It wasn't just a book about how we can do things better. https://t.co/hHKlMWvJn8

— Wealthy New Yorkers Who Take The Bus (@bri_guy_ny) September 29, 2026

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According to Zack Rosen, founder of California YIMBY and the Abundance Network, the problem with politics is Americans being too involved. Bemoaning the rise of small-dollar political donations in fundraising documents leaked to the Prospect, Rosen is blunt: "Small dollar internet fundraising makes politics dumber." Rosen misses what he considers to be a bygone era of elite dominance. Lamenting the current state of democratized influence, Rosen says "the old gatekeepers were political professionals who could count cards; small dollar donors today are amateurs yanking the handles of ActBlue slot machines."

This sentiment is laid out in substantial detail, filling 31 pages across two separate documents obtained by the Prospect. In an email exchange, Rosen confirmed the documents' legitimacy.

Rosen and his allies have no need for small-dollar donations or mass-membership politics: They come to do political battle with $260 million annually (yes, each year!) from billionaire benefactors, one document asserts. This "Abundance Capital Stack" is being deployed to organize in all 50 states and consists of a $120 million annual commitment from ex-hedge fund manager and current Meta board member John Arnold, $40 million from Facebook/Meta co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, and $100 million from Steve Ballmer, the L.A. Clippers owner and former Microsoft executive. Ballmer, who is currently embroiled in a scandal surrounding alleged off-book pay for NBA star Kawhi Leonard, was not previously known as a funder of the abundance movement.

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In response to questions about the nature of Klein's relationship with the Abundance Network, a spokesperson for The New York Times, where he works as an opinion journalist, stressed that he has "no official or paid relationship with the Abundance Network or any similar group." Klein has spoken at Abundance Network events without compensation, the spokesperson said. They declined to respond to questions about the Times' policy for opinion journalists engaging in political work and whether they or Klein were aware of his name being used in materials distributed along with a fundraising pitch.

Klein's involvement as an abundance-flavored power broker in Democratic politics has previously "raised internal concerns at the Times," according to reporting from Axios.

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